Ethos is putting self-custody with powerful features in the spotlight once again while offering an easy and intuitive interface. In this review, we will be taking a look at what Ethos is, what it has to offer, and everyone you should know about it.
The project was envisioned all around the idea of self-custody, which means its users are never giving control of their coins to a third party temporarily, adding an extra layer of security and transparency.
The value of personal control has been demonstrated time and time again through services such as the crypto wallet Ethos launched back in 2018, which was entirely on-chain and universal.
“Not your keys. Not your coins” or some variation of it is an expression most people in the world of crypto have heard at least once but despite this, not many seem to understand.
Giving away control is especially worrying when considering cryptocurrency and blockchain were designed to bring true ownership and security through decentralization.
What is Ethos?
Ethos is a DeFi trading platform founded in 2017 with the mission of making DeFi as simple as Centralized Finance (CeFi) while offering the many benefits that decentralization brings to the table.
The team behind the project, which is based in Singapore, describes the platform’s mission as ,
“To fulfill crypto’s original mission, put the power of decentralized finance into people’s hands, and create a future that is open, safe and fair for all.”
Centralized exchanges and platforms have now become the most popular platform for crypto enthusiasts to buy, sell, and trade their favorite cryptocurrencies.
However, cases like that of Celsius Network’s bankruptcy continue to highlight the inherent problems with centralized platforms: They take control and transparency away… Quite the opposite crypto was intended to be.
It is not surprising that Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has continued to gain momentum as a movement and approach to crypto platform development. While we are far away from them being mass-adopted, DeFi platforms have demonstrated that a better way is possible.
Unfortunately, they remain quite difficult to understand and use for beginners and even for advanced investors.
Moving Forward
Ethos was acquired and incorporated as a team by Voyager Digital, who saw the potential in the technology used by the DeFi project. Sadly, Voyager filed for bankruptcy back in July 2021, which meant that several Voyager Digital users were affected.
The Ethos team chose to move away from Voyager due to their poor judgment and bad business practices. Now, the Ethos team is launching its 2.0 platform with the mission to fulfill the goals it set when it was acquired by Voyager.
In an attempt to help those affected by Voyager’s downfall, Ethos recently announced a recovery program.
Ethos decided to airdrop 1 billion ETHOS tokens to the victims, offering them a new place closer to the values and ideas they chose to support. Users can register here for the airdrop.
While the rebranding of the project was announced not long ago on November 1 of 2022, Ethos is already a fairly known name in the DeFi world.
Not only has Ethos already launched successful products and services in the past but its technology was one of the few things that worked within Voyager’s massive infrastructure.
Ethos Features
While the Ethos app is yet to be released, the team has already announced the platform’s key features so users know what to expect. These features are some of the things we DeFi enthusiasts have come to expect from DeFi platforms while others are an entirely new way to solve existing problems.
It is also important to mention that all of these features are implemented in a way that makes them extremely easy to use, which might make many check if they are not using a CeFi platform by mistake. Let’s take a look at the key features offered by Ethos.
Magic Keys
The Magic Keys feature makes use of the latest advances in the field of cryptography to change how users interact with the soul and heart of crypto: Their private keys.
These magic keys are designed to be as easy as possible to back up via sharding, which ensures users don’t rely on old-fashioned seed phrases to regain access to their assets.
This feature works by having users create a private key when trading on the platform.
If the users lose their key due to a lost device or other motives, they will be able to upload an encrypted version of the private key, which is just a shard. Once the user answers some security questions and completes two-factor authentication, the other shard will be released by Ethos.
What this means is that the private key recovery process is similar to that of a centralized platform or traditional services like email/social media platforms.
However, due to the use of cryptography and sharding, Ethos only has access to a portion of the private key which can only be used to further increase the security of the user’s private key
Universal Vault
Also known as the “Ethos Vault”, this feature is similar to the wallet Ethos introduced in the past.
It is intended to be a safe and secure place for users to store their crypto by using 7 different dimensions of encryption and security like 2FA and social guardian technology… All without losing convenience or support for multiple cryptocurrencies.
Live Trading
Live trading will allow Ethos users to create orders for trading their cryptocurrency while broadcasting and executing them in real-time directly to the blockchain from their vault. This means that users will not have to give control of their coins while the trade is executed as with CeFi trading platforms.
As no coins are withdrawn at any time but only transferred upon execution through smart contracts, there is zero counterparty risk. This makes Ethos a truly trustless platform closer to what Satoshi might have envisioned.
Best Price Execution
While Ethos is a DeFi trading platform, it makes use of other DeFi exchanges to offer its services to users.
What this means is that at the time of creating an order, Ethos has already searched through dozens of exchanges for the best price. Once you execute an order, Ethos is already making sure you are getting the best price and liquidity DeFi can offer.
While this is not necessarily new, it continues to be an extremely powerful and convenient feature. However, it gets better when you also consider the fact that Ethos has made it possible for the orders to be split across multiple providers, ensuring no compromises need to be made in terms of price.
Ethos Rewards
This is Ethos’ way to encourage and reward its users for using the platform. Every time users trade using Ethos, they will collect rewards. The more they trade, the more rewards. It’s that simple.
Yield Seeker
The Yield Seeker feature is all about finding the best staking opportunities. Ethos will scan dozens of DeFi platforms to identify which options are available and recommend the best to the user.
Once you decide if you want to stake, Yield Seeker will generate your own smart contract, ensuring all returns are deposited directly in your vault.
Conclusion
The Ethos team is no stranger to the world of crypto as this is not their first rodeo. This means that the platform is not being developed by people with poor graphs of cryptography and blockchain security.
While it is still too early to judge from an “anecdotal” perspective as Ethos 2.0 hasn’t been around long enough, we have Ethos 1.0 to judge. The original platform proved to be one of the safest tools in the world of DeFi and able to handle a large user base.
When considering the fact that the team has introduced security features like 2-Factor Authentication, sharded private keys, and no-custodial infrastructure, Ethos seems to be quite secure.
This is great news as it is usually considered that safety and ease of use don’t go well together. Well, Ethos is proving it is possible. To learn more about Ethos, just click here!
